Since the invention of integrated circuits, the semiconductor industry has experienced continuous rapid growth due to the constant improvement in the integration density of various electronic components (i.e., transistors, diodes, resistors, capacitors, etc.). For the most part, this improvement in integration density has come from repeated reductions in minimum feature size, allowing more components to be integrated into a given chip area.
These integration improvements are essentially two-dimensional (2D) in nature, in that the volume occupied by the integrated components is essentially on the surface of the semiconductor wafer. Although dramatic improvements in lithography have resulted in considerable improvements in 2D integrated circuit formation, there are physical limitations to the density that can be achieved in two dimensions. One of these limitations is the minimum size needed to make these components. Also, when more devices are put into one chip, more complex designs are required.
An additional limitation comes from the significant increase in the number and lengths of interconnections between devices as the number of devices increases. When the number and the lengths of interconnections increase, both circuit RC delay and power consumption increase.
Among the efforts for resolving the above-discussed limitations, three-dimensional integrated circuit (3DIC) and stacked dies are commonly used. Through-silicon vias (TSVs) are used in 3DIC and stacked dies. The related process steps are thus explored.